Author: Squirmy Popple

When I was a little girl, my father told me I could do anything I wanted when I grew up. “I want to fly,” I said. “Sure, you can learn to fly an airplane,” he said. “No, I want to fly without an airplane. Just with my arms,” I said. I can’t remember his reply, […]

Welcome to the fourth edition of the Flexi Mamas series, which tells the stories of mums who want to work but struggle with the barriers in their way. This week’s Flexi Mama is Sam, who actually did return to her job after having kids, but she found that things had changed. So. When E […]

My toddler is obsessed with the music video for ‘Cups’, that Anna Kendrick song from Pitch Perfect. Her favourite part is at 2:54. “It’s Daddy!” she yells, pointing. Here are the ways that the guy she’s pointing looks different from my husband: He’s at least 50lbs heavier He’s not wearing glasses He doesn’t have a […]

Welcome to the third edition of the Flexi Mamas series, which tells the stories of mums who want to work but struggle with the barriers in their way. This week’s Flexi Mama is Victoria, who’s 31 and lives in the suburbs of Gloucester, south west England. She has two children: Bella (5) and Reuben (2). […]

I birthed this blog only a month after birthing my actual child, when I thought the concept of blogging about new motherhood was pretty clever and definitely not something that thousands of mothers were already doing way better than me. In a way, I can’t believe that my blog is still going two years later. […]

Welcome to the second edition of the Flexi Mamas series, which tells the stories of mums who want to work but struggle with the barriers in their way. This week’s Flexi Mama is Kate, who has two girls aged 5 and 1. She’s worked in a number of management roles in social housing and the […]

The Popple has a friend. She was talking about him non-stop last week, but I had no idea what she was saying at first. Her language skills are pretty good but she’s still only two, which means that at least 30% of what she says is actual nonsense. I spent ages trying to work out […]

Welcome to my new series Flexi Mamas, which tells the stories of mothers who want to work but struggle with the barriers in their way. Why Flexi Mamas? Because that’s what these mothers really need – a bit of flex. More flexible employers. More flexible job opportunities. More flexible (and less eye-wateringly expensive) childcare options. […]